NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 530, 10 June 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

— — ; ■ The superb facility displayed by, tho friends of the Government in effecting the somersaults involved in a really constant support of Ministerial actions has often been noted in these columns. A particularly interesting case in point is furnished by the Ministerial journal in Christchurch. 1 Here, in parallel columns, are extracts from its editorial columns on reoent dates:

„ , May 27. ' Juno I. Perhaps , with the The plus tuat in tho Prime ilinlßtcr and the absence of tile Prime Leader of the Opposi- Minister thb Opposition tion both out of the would refrain from emJ' onl ,? be P oß ' barrassing the Ministry Biblo for Parliament to simply means that the sit at .the ordinary country would not have time without disaster, the full benefit of the OpIf the two political position's work: either parties would agree to that or the - Governa truce during the ab- ment would have to sence of their chiefs, defer tho introduction they might get through of important measures Quits .b. let .of useful until tho end of the business. session. Clearly, therefore, thero lis nothing to be gained by keeping Parliament in session daring the neit three or four months. If Parliament could "get through quite a lot of useful business," is it correct to say ■ that ■ "there is nothing to be gained" by an unbroken session 1 If ,"a truco" is not only conceivablo but worthy of arrangement,. why. should there be any lament over, missing "the full benefit of tho Opposition's work"? We have no doubt 'that this double somersaulfwould' be further complicated, if the Government for any reason asked its friends to say something now to-morrow.' 'Nor have we any doubt that the public is now realisingthe character of the cause that necessitates that kind of advocacy. >

So many extraordinary fallacies have been encouraged by the labour legislation of the past fifteen years that it is quite possible that Mr. M'Laren's scheme for preventing unemployment may cause little remark. What Mr. M'Laren wants is "the regulation of existing industries in such a way as to prevent intermittent rushes alternating with acute periods of stagnation." He is kind enough to explain that ho means that "industries must be so regulated that they shall be run so as to provido more regular employment throughout the year," The thing would bo, perfectly simple if a short Act. were first passed to regulate, not only the local demand, but the demand abroad; , Of course we do not know whether Mr. M'Laren. has thought out that necessary prelude to a regulation of the supply. Probably that aspect of the matter has not occurred to him. _ Let us suppose that his ;system of regulation, was carried out. Clearly, thero would be a heavy loss of good trade in times of largo foreign demand, and a heavy loss through glut in times of small demand. There would simply bo loss and waste all the time excepting at tho rare moments when the fixed supply happened to just meet,the' demand. Mr. M'Laren evidently belongs to the school of thought which holds that to break windows is good for trade, and which once opposed the introduction of machinery or. the ground that it threw work—tho school of thought which gave us the fixed "minimum wage," and which regards exertion as an injury to the. commonweal. If Mr. M'Larek wishes to relieve industrial distress by an - amendment of our industrial legislation, he will find it better to free industry of existing restrictions than to paralyse it altogether with new fetters.

Nobody will be much surprised to hear that a movement has been set on foot to secure that a strong public protest be made against the adjournment of the session. Ihc public is no doubt not opposed to tho dispatch of the Prime Minister to London, but it looks at the proposed adjournment from another, point of view than that of the tongue-tied majority who did not dare to open their mouths at Monday's meeting in Parliament House. We are afraid that these silent gentlemen have overlooked the fact that the public is overwhelmingly against the adjournment, and that .tine public is after all not without a means of expressing its opinion sooner or later. They are very few who believe that the personal convenience of the Prime Minister should be tho first concern of the Legislature. The proposal to treat the t affairs of the country with contempt simply because a proper respect for their importance would displease the Minister is, we arc convinced, distasteful to a majority cvon amongst those Government candidates at the elections. . Should the Government insist on its improper proposal, tho dumb followers of Sir Joseph Ward will find, when tlioy return to their constituencies, that they have made a very grave mistake. The public wants Parliament to discuss without delay the very important business before it. There is no doubt that the bulk of the Wellington public which takes an interest in politics will support tho movement of protest. It is not too late for Parliament to do the right thing. Some, at least, of tho important matters requiring attention should ho dealt with. There is little doubt that, if a petition of protest were circulated at once, sufficient uomcs could be obtained in twonty- J

four hoars to impress the Ministerialists with_ the extent and seriousness of the public resentment that has been aroused by the Government's attempt to bludgeon the House into betraying its trust.